"Take your time--take your time--in moderation," said Melrose, drumming on the table before him.
"And there are of course a few things that I on my side should wish to know."
A series of inquiries followed: as to the term of the proposed engagement; the degree of freedom that would be granted him; the date at which his duties would begin, supposing he undertook them--("To-morrow, if it pleases you!" said Melrose, jovially)--pa.s.sing on to the general circ.u.mstances of the estates, and the nature of the pending litigations.
The questions were put with considerable tact, but were none the less shrewd. Melrose"s strange character with its mixture of sagacity, folly, and violence, had never been more acutely probed--though quite indirectly.
At the end of them his companion rose.
"You have a talent for cross-examination," he said with a rather sour smile. "I leave you. We have talked enough."
"Let me at least express before you go the grat.i.tude I feel for proposals so flattering--so generous," said Faversham, not without emotion; "and for all the kindness I have received here, a kindness that no man could ever forget."
Melrose looked at him oddly, seemed about to speak--then muttered something hardly intelligible, ceased abruptly, and departed.
The master of the Tower went slowly to his library through the splendid gallery, where Mrs. Dixon and the new housemaid were timidly dusting. But he took no notice of them. He went into his own room, locked his door, and having lit his own fire, he settled down to smoke and ruminate. He was exhausted, and his seventy years a.s.serted themselves. The radical alteration in his habits and outlook which the preceding six weeks had produced, the excitement of unpacking the treasures now displayed in the gallery, the constant thinkings and plannings connected with Faversham and the future, and, lastly, the interview just concluded, had tried his strength. Certain symptoms--symptoms of old age--annoyed him though he would not admit it. No doubt some change was wanted. He must smoke less--travel less--give himself more variety and more amus.e.m.e.nt. Well, if Faversham consented, he should at least have bought for himself a companionship that was agreeable to him, and relief from a number of routine occupations which he detested.
Suddenly--a child"s voice--a child"s shrill voice, ringing through the gallery--followed by scufflings and hushings, on the part of an older person--then a wail--and silence. Melrose had risen to his feet with an exclamation. Some peculiar quality in the voice--some pa.s.sionate, thrilling quality--had produced for the moment an extraordinary illusion.
He recovered himself in a moment. It was of course the child of the upholstress who had been working in the house for a week or so. He remembered to have noticed the little girl. But the sound had inevitably suggested thoughts he had no wish to entertain. He had a letter in his pocket at that moment which he did not mean to answer--the first he had received for many years. If he once allowed a correspondence to grow up--with that individual--on the subject of money, there would be no end to it; it would spread and spread, till his freedom was once more endangered. He did not intend that persons, who had been once banished from his life, should reenter it--on any pretext. Netta had behaved to him like a thief and a criminal, and with the mother went the child. They were nothing to him, and never should be anything. If she was in trouble, let her go to her own people.
He took out the letter, and dropped it into the midst of the burning logs before him. Then he turned to a heap of sale catalogues lying near him, and after going through them, he rose, and as though drawn to it by a magnetic power, he went to the Riesener table, and unlocked the drawer which held the gems.
Bringing them back to the fireside he watched the play of the flames on their shining surfaces, delighting greedily in their beauty; in the long history attaching to each one of them, every detail of which he knew; in the sense of their uniqueness. Nothing like them of their kind, anywhere; and there they were in his hand, after these years of fruitless coveting.
He had often made Mackworth offers for them; and Mackworth had laughed at him.
Well, he had bid high enough this time, not for the gems themselves, but for the chance of some day persuading their owner to entertain the notion of selling them. It pleased him to guess at what had been probably Faversham"s secret expectation that morning of a proposal for them; and to think that he had baffled it.
He might, of course, have made some quite preposterous offer which would have forced the young man"s hand. But that might have meant, probably would have meant, the prompt departure of the enriched Faversham. But he wanted both Faversham and the gems; as much as possible--that is, for his money. The thought of returning to his former solitariness was rapidly becoming intolerable to him. Meanwhile the adorable things were still under his roof; and with a mad pleasure he relocked the drawer.
Faversham spent the rest of the morning in cogitations that may be easily imagined. He certainly attributed some share in the extraordinary proposal that had been made to him, to his possession of the gems, and to Melrose"s desire to beguile them from him. But what then? Sufficient for the day! He would decide how to deal with that crisis when it should arrive.
Meanwhile, the amazing proposal itself was before him. If it were accepted, he should be at once a comparatively rich man, with an infinity of chances for the future; for Melrose"s financial interest and influence were immense. If not free to marry immediately, he would certainly be free--as Melrose himself had hinted--to prepare for marriage. But could he do the work?--could he get on with the old man?--could he endure the life?
After luncheon Dixon, with the subdued agitation of manner which showed the advent of yet another change in the household, came in to announce that a motor had come from Carlisle, that Mr. Melrose did not propose to use it himself, and hoped that Mr. Faversham would take a drive.
It was the invalid"s first excursion into the outer world.
He sat breathing in great draughts of the scented summer air, feeling his life and strength come back into him.
The rain had pa.s.sed, and the fells rose clear and high above the moist hay meadows and the fresh-leaved trees.
As they emerged upon the Keswick road he tapped the chauffeur on the shoulder. "Do you know Green Cottage?"
"Mrs. Penfold"s, sir? Certainly."
"How far is it?"
"I should say about two miles."
"Go there, please."
The two miles pa.s.sed for Faversham in a double excitement he had some difficulty in concealing; the physical excitement of change and movement, of this reentry upon a new world, which was the old; and the mental excitement of his own position.
At the cottage door, he dismounted slowly. The maid-servant said she thought Mrs. Penfold was in the garden. Would the gentleman please come in?
Faversham, leaning on his stick, made his way through the tiny hall of the cottage, and the drawing-room door was thrown open for him. A young lady was sitting at the farther end, who rose with a slight cry of astonishment. It was Lydia.
Through her reception of him Faversham soon learnt what are the privileges of the wounded, and how glad are all good women of excuses to be kind. Lydia placed him in the best chair, in front of the best view, ordered tea, and hovered round him with an eager benevolence. Her mother, she said, would be in directly. Faversham, on his side, could only secretly hope that Mrs. Penfold"s walk might be prolonged.
They were not interrupted. Lydia, with concern, conjectured that Mrs.
Penfold and Susan had gone to visit a couple of maiden ladies, living half a mile off along the road. But she showed not the smallest awkwardness in entertaining her guest. The rain of the morning had left the air chilly, and a wood fire burnt on the hearth. Its pleasant flame gave an added touch of intimity to the little drawing-room, with its wild flowers, its books, its water-colours, and its modest furnishings. After the long struggle of his illness, and the excitement of the morning, Faversham was both soothed and charmed. His whole nature relaxed; happiness flowed in. Presently, on an impulse he could not resist, he told her of the offer which had been made to him.
Lydia"s embroidery dropped on her lap.
"Mr. Melrose"s agent!" she repeated, in wonder. "He has offered you that?"
"He has--on most generous terms. Shall I take it?"
She flushed a little, for the ardent deference in his eyes was not easy to ignore. But she examined his news seriously--kindling over it.
"His _agent_--agent for his miserable, neglected property! Heavens, what a chance!"
She looked at him, her soul in her face. Something warned him to be cautious.
"You think it so neglected?"
"I know it: but ask Lord Tatham! He"s chairman of some committee or other--he"ll tell you."
"But perhaps I shall have to fight Tatham? Suppose that turns out to be my chief business?"
"Oh, no, you can"t--you can"t! He"s too splendid--in all those things."
"He is of course the model youth," said Faversham dryly.
"Ah, but you can"t hate him either!" cried Lydia, divining at once the shade of depreciation. "He is the kindest, dearest fellow! I agree--it"s provoking not to be able to sniff at him--_such_ a Prince Charming--with all the world at his feet. But one can"t--one really can"t!"
Jealousy sprang up sharply in Faversham, though a wider experience of the s.e.x might have suggested to him that women do not generally shower public praise on the men they love. Lydia, however, quickly left the subject, and returned to his own affairs. Nothing, he confessed, could have been friendlier or sincerer than her interest in them. They plunged into the subject of the estate; and Faversham stood amazed at her knowledge of the dales-folk, their lives and their grievances. At the end, he drew a long breath.
"By George!--can I do it?"
"Oh, yes, yes, _yes_!" said Lydia eagerly, driving her needle into the sofa cushion. "You"ll reform him!"
Faversham laughed.
"He"s a tough customer. He has already warned me I am not to manage his estates like a Socialist."